Noah Zivitz

Managing Editor, BNN Bloomberg

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Royal Bank of Canada has posted record full-year profit of $12.4 billion as fourth-quarter adjusted earnings easily exceeded estimates at $2.24 per share. Canada's largest bank posted double-digit Q4 growth in each of its four main units, including a 10 per cent gain in core banking. We'll peel through the details and see if anyone finds a way to poke holes in them. Also a good time to flag we’re looking forward to a conversation with Bank of Nova Scotia CEO Brian Porter later today.

UNION WANTS TRUDEAU TO FIGHT GM’S FIRE WITH FIRE

“If you’re going to have a company that’s going to show us their middle finger, then I think our government should show them their middle finger as well,” was how Unifor National President Jerry Dias framed the fight with General Motors Co. after emerging from a meeting with the prime minister yesterday. He went on to say the best way to get GM’s attention is to team up with the U.S. and apply 40 per cent tariffs on GM vehicles imported from Mexico. We’ll track developments, including Dias’s upcoming meeting with his UAW counterparts, and hunt for answers on what can/should be done to keep the lights on in Oshawa. Should note a readout from the PM’s call with Donald Trump yesterday indicates the two discussed GM (as well as the USMCA and metals tariffs).

WHAT SUBSIDIES?

That’s the question many were pondering after U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat-by-tweet to scrap unspecified subsidies to General Motors. If it was the US$7,500 tax credit for Chevrolet Bolt buyers, that’s not a GM-specific measure, as it’s extended to buyers of other electric vehicles, too.  

LAND & BUILDINGS VERSUS HBC             

The activist shareholders renewed its campaign against HBC today, saying “change on the board is urgently needed.” It also warned it plans to engage with shareholders “about adding fresh perspectives to the board and calling a special meeting of shareholders.” L&B also says it has an unidentified former HBC exec in its back pocket for potential eventual nomination to the board.

TRUMP BLASTS FED AGAIN

Arguably with his strongest words yet. "I think the Fed is a much bigger problem than China," the U.S. president said in an interview with The Washington Post.  "I'm not being accommodated by the Fed. I'm not happy with the Fed. They're making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else's brain can ever tell me." Should be pointed out the head of the Fed delivers a speech at noon today in New York. See the full transcript of the Trump interview, including comments on oil, here 

ENSIGN WINS TRINIDAD TUG OF WAR

Cash was king in this takeover battle, as Ensign Energy Services scooped up 56.38 per cent of Trinidad Drilling’s shares with its hostile offer, breaking up Trinidad’s friendly arrangement with Precision Drilling in the process. Ensign is extending the deadline on its offer to Dec. 10. Precision Drilling is demanding payment of a $20-million break fee. And Trinidad says its CEO, CFO, COO and entire board of directors have resigned.

OTHER NOTABLE STORIES

-Alimentation Couche-Tard reported second-quarter profit and revenue late yesterday that narrowly topped estimates, reaping the benefit of its growth-by-acquisition strategy as sales surged 21 per cent year-over-year.

-Here’s a snapshot of the uncertainty hanging over Canada’s energy industry. Whitecap Resources announced this morning it will defer the release of its 2019 budget “given the timing of the G20 and OPEC meetings in December and continued crude oil price volatility”

NOTABLE RELEASES/EVENTS

-Notable earnings: Royal Bank of Canada, Tiffany

-Notable data: U.S. GDP, U.S. new home sales

-Bank of England releases financial stability report and bank stress tests

-8:15 a.m. ET: CMHC release rental market survey

-9:30 a.m. ET: Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc and Treasury Board President Scott Brison make announcement about interprovincial trade in Scarborough, Ont. (plus avail)

-10:00 a.m. ET: Liberal Party of Canada holds caucus meeting in Ottawa

-11:15 a.m. ET: CP Rail CEO Keith Creel presents at Credit Suisse industrials conference

-12:00 p.m. ET: U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivers speech to Economic Club of New York

-12:15 p.m. ET: Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi makes energy innovation announcement at University of British Columbia (plus avail)

-12:30 p.m. ET: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley delivers speech to Canadian Club of Ottawa (plus avail at ~1315)

-2:00 p.m. ET: Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains makes announcement and holds avail in Mississauga, Ont. 

-5:30 p.m. ET: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau departs for Buenos Aires

Every morning BNN Bloomberg's Managing Editor Noah Zivitz writes a ‘chase note’ to BNN Bloomberg's editorial staff listing the stories and events that will be in the spotlight that day. Have it delivered to your inbox before the trading day begins by heading to www.bnnbloomberg.ca/subscribe.